The 8 best-dressed men of the week

Bar of the week: Clean Air Bar with Ketel One vodka

Every week, we scour the city to find the best bars our capital has to offer. Whether you're a cocktail kind of guy, or a man who enjoys a decent draft beer, there's a GQ-worthy drinking spot to suit every taste.

The 8 best-dressed men of the week

Bar of the week: Clean Air Bar with Ketel One vodka

Every week, we scour the city to find the best bars our capital has to offer. Whether you're a cocktail kind of guy, or a man who enjoys a decent draft beer, there's a GQ-worthy drinking spot to suit every taste.

2007: Kanye West

It's June and Kanye West is in London to perform at the Concert For Diana.

Later this week he will give Princes William and Harry a signed copy of Raising Kanye, written by his mum, Donda West, and subtitled Life Lessons From The Mother Of A Hip-Hop Superstar.

Before that there is work to do. In a little over three months,

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Graduation, his third album of hyper-catchy songs, will be released. Though West is an incorrigible tinkerer, revising up to deadline (or, in the case of his Shirley Bassey-sampling hit "Diamonds From Sierra Leone", past it, so there are two versions), and the album is incomplete, the time's come to unveil it to his record company.

Employees arrange themselves on sofas in a Chiswick recording studio. It's a well-known drill; an after-hours kickback for staff to familiarise themselves with a record they will spend 12 months selling. Yet, as soon as West arrives wearing a rainbow-coloured polo shirt, outsized Air Jordans and a showy Jesus pendant, two things become apparent. The first is that participation is required. "Can everybody tell me where they're from?" he instructs, indicating when the next person should speak by pointing a chicken drumstick at them. "Beth, sales." "Luke, new media."

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And so on. Then he connects his MacBook to the studio desk and the second thing makes itself known. This will be less a playback, more a performance. As the music booms out, he jumps up and down, playing air keyboards, drums and something that might be a harp, and acting out the lyrics. During "Goodbye" he drops the volume and performs the mid-section rap to the room. After "Can't Tell Me Nothing" he explains: "Those notes cut me right there. I listen to Coldplay, Keane and the Killers. Those are notes Keane would fuck with." Mid-"Good Morning" he says: "I must point out one line:

'I'm like the fly Malcolm X/By any jeans possible.' It's one of my favourite lines."

Afterwards, he gauges reactions. "It's incredible," someone offers. "It's euphoric... This one is going to lift people. I think you wrote a self-help book." "Thank you," West says. "It's, like, what if your drawbacks ended up being your superpower? I've always had an issue with masculinity. I'm like, 'I hope this person isn't looking at me like I'm a fag.' 'Cos I have some feminine ways. Maybe I'm not the guy who kicks off [a fight] in a club. Now I'm a 30-year-old, I've accepted that. Because of that I ended up having the No.1 album.

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Because" - and here he slaps the back of his hand for emphasis - "people are tired of that." "I've realised," he concludes, "everything I'm not made me everything I am."

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It is 48 hours later and Kanye West has been busy. In Paris he watched Louis Vuitton's spring/summer '08 menswear show. In London's Mayfair he attended a party hosted by Dita Von Teese. And at Wembley he rehearsed for the Concert For Diana. He has also been on the receiving end of some sparkling British wit. "I was in a club taking a piss and this guy was making comments like, 'Mr East!' just drunk and acting stupid, and he slaps me on the back to get my attention," he says. "And I told him: 'Look, I don't feel comfortable holding my dick with another man's hand on me. Unless you want me to turn around in the middle of this...'" No matter: West figures the incident will prove inspiring material for his new TV series, a comedy starring himself, directed by Curb Your Enthusiasm producer Larry Charles. The internet suggests it is an approximation of West's day-to-day life, with exaggerated funny bits. "Well, my life does have funny bits," he says. "I run in to so many characters."

We are in West's London hotel room. Powering though his breakfast (an All-Bran/Corn Flakes mix, two Diet Cokes, plus egg whites and turkey), he studies the plans for the house he's having built in LA, a mile from Madonna's place. After the last one was completed he decided he didn't like the renovations, and started again. This one, the work of Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein-endorsed architect Claudio Silvestrin, has a 105ft wardrobe. West likes clothes. Foremost in his mind is what to wear at the concert. He's been looking for a red linen suit. But he's drawn a blank. It's not as if Hedi Slimane has been much help. "I tried calling him so many times," he sighs. "I don't know what he's doing." How does he think his style will hold up against the rest of GQ's Men Of The Year? "There are people who dress better than me," he says, "just not many celebrities. Is Jude Law in there? I think I have leeway because I'm a rapper and I'm black. I think fashion people expect less of black people."

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Talk turns to the concert. "We've only got seven minutes. But it's an incredible seven minutes," he says. "I sound the way I did when I first had sex. The Princes requested "Diamonds...". So we're ending with that."

According to West, he has more in common with Princess Diana that might be apparent. "People say there's a lot of parallels with us. Like her sticking to what she believed in."

A car accident also looms in West's biography - he recorded his first single, "Through The Wire", laid up with his jaw wired shut - although, that was because he fell asleep at the wheel. "Being willing to die for what you believe in is the mark of a true artist," he continues. "It's like that movie The Prestige where he's willing to kill himself to deliver that form of entertainment. I kill myself every night to pull this shit off."

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He polishes off his breakfast and heads to Bond Street to look for his red suit. He doesn't find it. Instead he wears Dior trousers, a Lanvin jacket and white sunglasses with horizontal bars in the place of lenses that feature in Graduation's art direction. "Settled for a red tie," he says, flapping a skinny Fred Perry number. The sunglasses, frankly, look rather impractical."They do kind of make me dizzy."

Along with his manager and PR, West travels to Wembley with his fiancée Alexis, his stylist Ibyn, the current Miss Swansea (who Ibyn has befriended), his bodyguard Barry, his mum Donda and his uncle Anthony (who sings backing vocals). Donda clutches a plastic pint of lager. She wonders about the line-up: "I don't know why they put Puffy [ P Diddy] afterwards."

At the stadium, David Beckham wrestles with his kids. A pregnant Lauren Laverne is sat in a plastic chair. Patsy Kensit whizzes past on a golf buggy. Ten minutes before their slot, Team West troop up to the stage. Take That's dancers limber up. Rod Stewart, live to 500 million people, is doing "Sailing". Then West decides instead of finishing with "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" he'd like to add "Jesus Walks".

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But West's seven minutes are terrific. Afterwards, West reviews himself on the camera. "We killed it," he says.

Everyone stays to watch Diddy. While West crammed five songs into his allotted time, it soon transpires he plans to stretch one - "I'll Be Missing You" - to fill his. The instrumental intro drags on. There are some ad-libs - "So compassionate, so royal, an incredible mother - make some noise for Princess Diana, y'all"; "Prince William, Prince Harry, we love you, we respect you" - then it finishes. "He's really doing one song?" says West. "Oh."

In hospitality Dennis Hopper sits in front of us, his hand on his wife's knee.

Boris Becker introduces himself - "A big fan" - though it's not clear West knows who he is. Perhaps he's thinking of the Princes.

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Soon, he'll be ushered into a room where they'll express their thanks and, in return, he will give them their books. "Some days are better than others," he beams. "This is a good day."